Multimessenger Science Opportunities with Mhz Gravitational Waves

Primary Thematic Science Area: Multi-Messenger Astronomy and Astrophysics Secondary Areas: Cosmology and Fundamental Physics, Galaxy Evolution, Formation and Evolution of Compact Objects Multimessenger science opportunities with mHz gravitational waves John Baker,1, 2 Zoltan´ Haiman,3 Elena Maria Rossi,4 Edo Berger,5 Niel Brandt,6 Elme´ Breedt,7 Katelyn Breivik,8 Maria Charisi,9 Andrea Derdzinski,3 Daniel J. D’Orazio,5 Saavik Ford,10, 11 Jenny E. Greene,12 J. Colin Hill,13, 14 Kelly Holley-Bockelmann,15 Joey Shapiro Key,16 Bence Kocsis,17 Thomas Kupfer,18 Shane Larson,19 Piero Madau,20 Thomas Marsh,21 Barry McKernan,10, 11 Sean T. McWilliams,22 Priyamvada Natarajan,23 Samaya Nissanke,24 Scott Noble,25, 1 E. Sterl Phinney,9 Gavin Ramsay,26 Jeremy Schnittman,1 Alberto Sesana,27, 28 David Shoemaker,29 Nicholas Stone,3 Silvia Toonen,30, 27 Benny Trakhtenbrot,31 Alexey Vikhlinin,5 and Marta Volonteri32 1NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA 2email: [email protected] 3Columbia University 4Leiden University 5Harvard University 6The Pennsylvania State University 7University of Cambridge 8Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto 9California Institute of Technology 10City University of New York 11American Museum of Natural History 12Princeton University 13Institute for Advanced Study 14Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute 15Vanderbilt University 16University of Washington, Bothell 17Eotv¨ os¨ University 18Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics 19Northwestern University 20University of California, Santa Cruz 21University of Warwick 22West Virginia University 23Yale University 24GRAPPA, University of Amsterdam 25University of Tulsa 26Armagh Observatory 27University of Birmingham 28Universita` di Milano Bicocca 29LIGO, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 30University of Amsterdam 31Tel Aviv University 32Institut d‘Astrophysique de Paris (Dated: March 10, 2019) 1 LISA will open the mHz band of gravitational waves (GWs) to the astronomy community. The strong gravity which powers the variety of GW sources in this band is also crucial in a number of important astrophysical processes at the current frontiers of astronomy. These range from the beginning of structure formation in the early universe, through the origin and cosmic evolution of massive black holes in concert with their galactic environments, to the evolution of stellar remnant binaries in the Milky Way and in nearby galaxies. These processes and their associated populations also drive current and future observations across the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. We review opportunities for science breakthroughs, involving either direct co- incident EM+GW observations, or indirect multimessenger studies. We argue that for the US community to fully capitalize on the opportunities from the LISA mission, the US efforts should be accompanied by a coordinated and sustained program of multi-disciplinary science invest- ment, following the GW data through to its impact on broad areas of astrophysics. Support for LISA-related multimessenger observers and theorists should be sized appropriately for a flagship observatory and may be coordinated through a dedicated mHz GW research center. Multimessenger Frontiers We begin by enumerating key science questions requiring both EM and GW measurements. This serves as a mere snapshot of current knowledge; since the field is in its infancy, new discoveries will drive multi-messenger science over the next decade, and we must be responsive. Is General Relativity (GR) the Correct Theory of Gravity? While GR has passed a mul- titude of tests [1, 2], viable alternative theories of gravity remain, including some that may account for apparent cosmic acceleration without invoking dark energy. Together with EM observations, LISA can test these theories by determining the luminosity distance dL(z) of a 6 high-SNR massive (M ≈ 10 M ) black hole (MBH) binary [3] with a few % accuracy out to redshift z ≈ 3 [4]. A degeneracy between M and (1 + z) in the GW waveform precludes mea- suring the redshift of such a “standard siren”, but if an EM counterpart of the source, or its host galaxy, is identified, its redshift can be measured. GW distances are based on the propagation of gravity, rather than light. A comparison of standard sirens and standard EM candles at simi- lar redshifts can therefore probe alternative theories of gravity (e.g. with extra dimensions) for which the GW and EM luminosity distances would disagree [5]. Similarly, in massive gravity theories, the speed of GWs differs from the speed of light, causing differences in the arrival times from cosmological sources. Along with LIGO binary neutron star observations, which so far constrain this speed difference to 10−15, mHz sirens seen by LISA will provide new tests for theories with frequency-dependent delays [6], and potentially stronger tests with improved systematics if the EM emission time can be well-understood theoretically [7] or if the EM chirp from merging binaries embedded in circumbinary gas [8–10] is phased with the GW chirp. The GW distance-redshift relation is highly complementary to that from supernovae (SNe): (1) it side-steps the calibration via a distance ladder, (2) has entirely different systematics, and (3) will extend to redshifts inaccessible to SN observations, easily probing dark energy models that affect dL at z > 3 [11]. GW+EM standard sirens would also naturally resolve the current tensions about local vs. high-z measurements of the Hubble constant H0 [12]. Did the Early Universe have an Inflationary Stage? On large scales, our universe is domi- nated by dark energy and dark matter, with primordial perturbations with a nearly scale-invariant power spectrum, consistent with inflation [13–15]. Standard inflationary models generically predict a stochastic GW background (GWB), whose power spectrum declines towards high frequency in the simplest, single-field, slow-roll models, though other models allow a range of spectral slopes. The GWB can be probed at very low frequencies (10−16 −10−18Hz) by cosmic microwave background polarization [16–20], and by gravitational waves at ∼nHz (by Pulsar timing arrays; PTAs [21]), ∼mHz (by LISA [22]) and ∼100Hz (ground-based GW detectors) frequencies. The potential discovery of a GWB and a measurement (or constraint) of the slope of its spectrum over the enormous frequency range provided by the joint GW+EM observations would provide smoking gun evidence for inflation, as well as a powerful probe of non-minimal inflationary models. 2 How do Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) and Galaxies Co-Evolve? Nuclear SMBHs correlate with many fundamental properties of their host galaxies, indicating that SMBHs and galaxies co-evolve over cosmic time [23]. However, the nature of this co-evolution and the physics responsible for it is not yet understood [24]. If EM observations can identify unique host galaxies of LISA SMBH binaries, then this will directly provide the relation between (merging) SMBHs and their host galaxies as a function of redshift, luminosity and other properties. GW data will yield precise and reliable estimates of the masses, spins, and orbits of the SMBHs, which are not attainable from EM observations alone. How Did the Earliest SMBHs Form and Grow? One of the puzzling discoveries of the past two decades is the existence of billion-solar mass SMBHs in the first Gyr of the universe. 6 The early emergence of these SMBHs requires a rapid assembly of the first ∼ 10 M SMBHs by z > 10. LISA will probe the assembly of these early SMBHs via mergers out to z ∼ 20, while EM instruments pushing the sensitivity limits, such as Lynx, Athena, and JWST will reveal their growth by directly detecting the light produced in the X-ray and optical bands during their growth by accretion. These two observations together bracket the two main channels in which SMBHs can grow in mass over time: mergers or accretion. Do IMBHs Exist? If So, How Did They Form? Astronomers have found examples of 0−2 6−10 stellar-mass BHs in the range 10 M , and SMBHs with 10 M . It is currently unknown whether intermediate-mass BHs (IMBHs) exist in-between these two populations. LISA and deep EM observations [25] will cover this range and together will be able to map out the de- mography and growth via mergers and accretion of the population, if any, of IMBHs. While LISA could establish the mere existence of IMBHs (via an IMBH-IMBH merger or a stellar mass black hole spiraling into a larger IMBH), a white dwarf inspiralling into an IMBH would be tidally stripped and produce a unique bright EM counterpart [26, 27]. Host galaxy localiza- tion could help distinguish between different IMBH formation scenarios (such as runaway in globular clusters, formation in dwarf galaxies, or via copious accretion). How Do Accretion Disks Fuel AGN? AGN disks contribute to galaxy formation via various forms of feedback [28]. While EM observations probe the photospheres of AGN disks, even basic disk properties, such as density, temperature, geometry, accretion rate or lifetime, remain poorly understood [29]. GW signatures of mergers involving SMBHs and/or stellar-mass BHs in an AGN disk can complement EM data and provide novel information on disk properties in several ways. Coupled with LISA observations, we will, for the first time, study bright EM emission from SMBHs whose masses, spins, and orbital parameters are precisely known. LISA may also be able to directly measure the effect of gas drag on the GW waveform of a stellar-mass black hole (sBH) merging with the SMBH [30]. The magnitude and frequency- dependence of the deviation from vacuum waveforms will probe disk properties and can be disentangled from uncertainties in the binary parameters [30–33]. Stellar-mass BH binaries detectable by both LIGO and LISA [34] may be captured [35] or produced [36–38] within AGN disks, as a consequence of nuclear star-formation. These possibilites may be explored with multimessenger cross-catalogs [39–41].

Load more